Peer review: strengths, limitations and

[Pages:41]Peer review: strengths, limitations and emerging issues

Deborah C. Poff, CM. PhD Trustee and Treasurer, COPE

What is Peer Review?

A process where peer experts in a particular field of knowledge creation ? from scientific research to creative arts production ? are invited and accept to review and provide learned and critical evaluation of the scholarly merit of the researcher(s)' or creator(s)' intellectual product.

Peer reviews provide recommendations to research funders, journal editors and book publishers, creative work producers, etc.

US ORI states that

"the most respected research findings are those that are known to have faced peer review. Most funding decisions in science are based on peer review. Academic advancement is generally based on success in achieving peer-reviewed publications and funding...In short, research and researchers are judged primarily by peers."

Who is a Peer?

Someone who is recognized as having scholarly standing which includes the following criteria:

? Achieved accredited education and training

? Contributed to the field through peer-reviewed research grants, productions and publications,

? Acquired professional employment and promotion as recognition that one is a credible evaluator of the literature of others in the same field.

Historically, Peers have been Central to:

? The hiring and promotion of university faculty ? The funding of scholarly research ? The evaluation of the scholarly products of research,

such as, articles, monographs, juried art exhibits and, importantly ? All of these evaluations have been construed as collegial because these are evaluations by peers within the same fields of specialization

Models of Peer Review

In a recent COPE discussion paper, "Who Owns Peer Review?" the following models of peer review were identified:

? Traditional double-blind review ? neither reviewers nor authors know the respective identities of either ? double anonymity

? Traditional single-blind review ? peer-reviewers know identity of authors but authors don't know who the reviewers are

? Open ? both authors and reviewers know each other's identity

- in some journals with open review processes, accepted manuscripts are accompanied by the publication of reviews while in others this is not the case

? Transparent ? similar to Open, the contents of reviews are openly available though the reviewers remain anonymous

? Interactive or Collaborative ? exchanges between reviewers and authors take place to facilitate reviews, either anonymously or with identities known

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